In the midst of this spiraling COVID-19 pandemic with the Judiciary too going through very trying times, Justice N.V. Ramana takes over as the 48th Chief Justice of India on April 24 and will have a 16 month tenure. Born into a humble family of agriculturists in Andhra Pradesh, Justice Ramana had during the 1975 Emergency, as a student leader, fought for Civil liberties while sacrificing an academic year.
Justice Ramana has recently mooted the idea of the need to set up a National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation which could go a long away towards improving our judicial infrastructure while maintaining its independence and autonomy.
This Corporation which could be headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge at the centre and a retired High Court Judge in the States could act as a median and catalyst in pursuing Judicial projects instead of sitting Judges having to interact with the politicians in Power.
Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer had said “Even so, the creed of judicial independence is our constitutional ‘religion’ and, if the executive use Article 222 to imperil this basic tenet, the Court must ‘do or die’.
Andrew Jackson, the late American President believed that all the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous judiciary.
